WUXI, China - Recurve archers rose to the occasion in team elimination matches at the World Archery Youth Championships today. The junior recurve men, following the men's team at last week's senior championship with the first team gold medal in 30 years, are shooting for the first team gold since 1993. Additionally, the junior recurve mixed team will shoot for Team USA's first ever medal in that category.
The junior recurve superstars, Daniel McLaughlin, Jeremiah Cusick and Sean McLaughlin (all: Chula Vista, Calif.) have been practicing team rounds in preparation for this day, and the hard work has paid off. The trio had work to do, entering team rounds seeded 5th. They entered the quarterfinal with a low score against the team from Chinese Taipei, but quickly turned the tables, ending with a 58 and knocking out their opponents.
They carried their winning streak over into the semifinals, defeating the team from the Netherlands by a wide margin. As the Netherlands defeated No.1 seed, Korea in the quarterfinals, the US will shoot against the Russian Federation for gold. D. McLaughlin says "I had a good time shooting with my teammates and I'm glad to be going for the first medal in 20 years."
D. McLaughlin and Mackenzie Brown (Chula Vista, Calif.) struggled through a difficult mixed team quarterfinal against the Ukraine, but came out on top to face Korea in the semis. Although Korea was too tough an opponent, the US team battled hard enough to earn their spot in the bronze final, again against the Russian Federation. This will be Team USA's first opportunity to medal in this event.
For individual successes, Anna Marie Miscione (Ramona, Calif.) had a winning performance on the cadet recurve field, upsetting Zhibzema Dambaeva (RUS) and No.4 seed, Lu Zhang (CHN) in a 6-0 shut out. In a close quarterfinal match, Korea's Hyeseon Lee eliminated Miscione from the running. Brown also shot well through her first several matches before facing No.1 seed, Yeji Sim (KOR). Although Brown put up a fight, the back and forth match resulted in a 6-4 loss for the US.
Cusick posted high scores to upset No.2 seed Joo Wan Kim (KOR) in the 1/16th. Cusick continued to shoot well but was knocked out in his next match. Teammate, D. McLaughlin also made it through to the 1/8th. Kacper Sierakowski (POL) forced a one-arrow shoot off and his 9 was enough to cut McLaughlin's win streak.
Several early losses also resulted for US archers, despite valiant efforts and strong scores. The 1/16th round stopped S. McLaughlin against Olympian, Gael Prevost (FRA) as well as junior recurve ladies, Ariel Gibilaro (Chula Vista, Calif.) and Lanola Pritchard (Chula Vista, Calif.) as well as cadet, Lauren Clamon (Chula Vista, Calif.) Cadet recurve, Collin Klimitchek (Chula Vista, Calif.) bowed out early in the 1/24th after a tight match. Also in the 1/24th, Eliana Claps (Everett, Wash.) faced elimination in a one-arrow shoot off, and Klimitchek's teammates, Geun Woo Kim (Valencia, Calif.) and Andrew Paul Mateo (Chandler, Ariz.) did not make the cut through their first matches.
Matching unfortunate turnouts from tight individual eliminations, the cadet men shot well against Turkey in the quarterfinals to tie and force a shoot-off, which they lost 28-29.
The team from Chinese Taipei upset the No.3 seeded junior women after they finished with a low fourth quarterfinal set. The Russian Federation also knocked out the cadet ladies team in the quarters.
With two world records
this week and stellar performances, Team USA will be competing for ten medals
in the finals this weekend, visit http://www.worldarchery.org/en-us/worldchampionships/youth-wuxi2013/livescores.aspx to watch live scores and see detailed score
reports from each archer. Also check out USA Archery on Facebook and twitter
for photos and updates from the field.
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